Memories Best Forgotten
by Okai
Summary: Regina steps into the portal. Emma does too.
1. To Relive The Past

She heard it.

The rumble of the ground, the fierce shaking gently swaying the trees, water tumbling over the edge of the small stream she sat in front of.

She whipped her head around, blonde tresses of curly hair messy and unbrushed since morning time. It was a brilliant expanse of bright orange light that shot up into the sky, seeming to endlessly fly upwards towards nothingness. She stared, mouthing 'what the hell...' before jumping to her feet and springing towards the diner.

"What was that?" asked motherly-glowing Mary Margaret, gently rocking her newborn child side to side, calming him from the ripples of shaken Earth.

Regina glanced at the window near the diner and her gleaming smile faltered within just a few seconds. She began to peer through the blinds and what caught her eyes was absolutely astonishing.

And magical.

"Zelena's time portal," said Mr. Gold simply. "It's been activated."

"How?" asked David, and Regina felt the need to protectively stand in front of Henry and Roland. If anything happened, ultimately the children would require attention. She would not let something catastrophic occur.

"And what does it do?" asked Mary Margaret.

"How do we stop it?" Regina corrected them, realizing the amount of time they'd be wasting by playing 20 questions.

"It won't close until it finds what it is looking for," he replied with a simple grimace, knowingly stalling the conversation out of habit.

"Out with it, Gold, we have not a single minute of extra time," she said hastily, glaring at the man who leaned on his cane somewhat lazily.

"It needs to take a human of Zelena's bloodline or Zelena herself.

Regina's eyes widened uncharacteristically, her mouth parting slightly. "I'm her sister," she said aloud, earning unnerved glances from around the diner.

"That you are."

"Regina, we are not letting you go back there," said Mary Margaret with genuine concern. "It's too dangerous."

"To risk my son to save myself or save the entire town, I think I'll choose the latter," she replied with confidence, already walking towards the door.

When it suddenly popped open.

Blazing green eyes gleamed at her with sudden ferocity, blonde hair pulled into an uncouth messy bun. Her eyebrows were downturned, face fallen. "It's at the barn," she said quickly. "A giant portal with tons of sparks and flames and-"

"I need to go in it."

"What?" she asked dumbfounded.

"Regina, no," argued Robin from behind her, grabbing her hand, but she lightly moved it away.

"I am not some kind of puppy you all need to so relentlessly care for," she said, taking a moment to breathe in the scene before her. Henry, her beloved son, staring back at her with worried brown eyes that looked so much like her own. Roland, the little boy she had somehow grown to thoroughly enjoy being around. Robin, the man who had finally given her a feeling of completion, of something she had done right. Snow White, Prince Charming, hating the two so vehemently in the past, suddenly only wanting to see their shocked and concerned faces once again if she were ever to become lost in the past. Kathryn, a very loving and trusting friend. She wanted to come back this. She didn't want to leave, to change her past, to make herself a better person.

Her mistakes in the past had moulded the happy ending she had finally seemed to achieve here.

Flashbacks. White magic. Henry, and a true love's kiss. Saving Snow White, of all people, from her mother's ghost. Developing friendships, having dinner with the Charmings. She didn't want to lose these memories.

"I won't forget this," she stood tall without uncertainty. "I will make it back."

"Then I'm coming with you."

She turned her head, brown eyes connecting with green. The blonde looked shaken and afraid but strong and powerful at the same time. Emma held her ground, standing just a few inches taller than the mayor, a silent connection, silent consent, silence, it coursed through the room.

"Emma, no," Mary Margaret seemed to be trying to stand, and David held his hand out stupidly as if that would do anything.

"Think about it. We both have the potential of white magic, our powers combined are strong. We have a better chance of making it out if we stick together."

Regina looked downwards towards her feet, thinking hard, realizing she was righter than rain.

"I won't let you endanger yourself like that," she said, secretly muttering to herself that this girl whom she had developed a strong friendship with should and would not see her old troubled self. She would not see it.

"I'm going, no further questions," and with that she grabbed the mayor's arm and pulled her over to the door. "We're gonna make it."

Mary Margaret looked close to tears as she held her child close. "No, Emma, no," she cried. "We will not lose you again!"

"That's right, you won't, because I'm coming back."

Regina could only secretly admire the young blonde's defiance and sureness. It was reassuring. She wouldn't admit it.

And the entire diner sprung to life. Mary Margaret, David, Henry, Ruby, all rushing towards the blonde. Robin, Roland, Kathryn hurrying with concern towards Regina.

Hugs were exchanged. Nothingness whispered, 'you'll be okay,' 'be strong,' 'make it back.' It's all happening at once and it's overwhelming and unnecessary and Regina pushes all of the appreciation back and all she wants to do is leave. And then Emma is tugging on Regina's shoulder, the same nervousness overrunning her as well and they are running before they can change their minds, sprinting towards the light with a hoard of loyal Storybrookers running not far behind. Regina twisted around.

"You're all staying here," she said with a twing of annoyance in her voice. Were they stupid? "That portal is extremely unpredictable and most likely unstable considering the lack of knowledge towards this sort of magic. Nobody has gone to the past, nobody knows what it could do."

They all stood. And watched. Helpless. Saddened. Henry hugging his mothers one last time.

And they were off.

...

"On 3!" Emma yelled over the roaring noise of fiery-filled wind ensconcing them. It was huge, the gaping orange-tinted mass twirling like a tornado, wind pushing them back and forth all over the place. It was becoming unstable. They had no time.

"1!"

She imagined Daniel looking down at her, smiling with blood dripping down his chest from a hole in his chest. And she saw her mother behind him, holding his heart.

"2!"

She saw Mr. Gold, his scaly, dusty skin, his menacing impish smile, laughing at her without mercy, and she saw him holding what she believed to be his dagger. Rumplestilskin was embroidered on the silver polished metal, contrasting his filthy hair and face. She saw thousands of men behind him, blood pooling on the ground.

"3!"

She saw her father, the same hole in his heart, blood seeping to the floor, and he smiled like Daniel had. Like nothing had even happened.

And she saw herself behind him.

And she would not let Emma see her, the burden on her old self's face she had learned to hide so well, the weights she had carried after becoming strong enough to carry them, her evil old self. She would not let-

But Emma had pushed her forward, and she was tumbling down into the portal and Emma was next to her and all went black and she felt like punching herself because she realized something crucial just as she lost herself to the roaring winds and bright orange and white light.

She didn't want to see the Evil Queen either.

im gonna need some love with this because I was nervous about posting this anywas, but this is my first ff story so I hope you enjoyed it. idk how long it's gonna be but im gonna try to get regina's character right, as she's a tough one. regina's not gonna be fun in my story, she will be a hardass with determination and a goal on her mind, but eventually she'll lighten up towards emma and towards the situation. and some swanqueen. (do you guys want romantic swanqueen or friendly? i can't decide what would work best for this story...)

Thanks for reading is the summary of that longass A/N. Will post next chapter soon ^^


	2. You Wanted To See Your Queen?

It was a weird feeling, going through a portal, and Emma remembered the feeling while traveling to the Enchanted Forest through Jefferson's hat. Like each and every single fibre of your being is toddled and tampered with, stretched beyond the limit, and it almost hurts but then again it's more like an awful, horrifying discomfort that you can't shoo away. Like you are immobile. You are trapped. And then you're flying, soaring, being... warped, is the only word she could effectively think of (even though it wasn't the right word, wasn't the best word).

You're suddenly falling, and it's a bad feeling, like falling from the drop on a roller coaster times 100. You crash to the ground, and you're here.

She looks to her right, hair falling in front of her face, blocking out the dim sunlight slightly covered by opaque grey clouds. The weather feels different, like the air is somehow thinner or lessened. It's cold, misty, kind of bland and gloomy, and it seems like this place has never seen the light of day. Trees are lively but somehow not, the dirt dying and unhealthy. It's a sad but strange place.

A place Regina knows too well. She stands up, knees shaken, body trembling, the familiar scent of the forest invading her senses, clouding her already fogged mind. She feels dizzy but isn't sure if it is due to the fall or the smell of a place she wished she had forgotten.

"This is it?" asks Emma timidly, face-first into the muddy dirt of the forest, smelling nothing like the rich and lush forest back home.

Regina is already standing, her Storybrooke outfit seeming extremely out of place in the wildlife. Not that Emma's was any better.

"This is it," she replies with a sigh, dusting her black pants off and fixing her shirt. Her hair is muddled and tangled and she can feel it brushing against the back of her neck as if teasing her but she ignores it for the time being. Nobody to impress here.

"So, this is the ever-rumored Enchanted Forest," Emma says, standing finally and petting her clothes down. "Where happily ever afters, princes and princess, everything holy, lives and strives."

Regina chuckles at how dead wrong she is. "The only problem we have is that I have no idea what time we've been thrown back to." Regina asks nobody in particular, turning in a circle to look for any sort of direction, some sort of sign.

Emma, on the other hand, saw something. A simple slip of paper, it caught her eye like a fire on ice. She peered at it with interest, narrowing her eyes, staring dangerously at the little slip as if it had insulted her. Her mother's face was delicately painted in black ink, clearly identifiable by her slightly pudgy but beautiful face, hair as black as night. Under it was written 'Wanted' in careful medieval-looking font she didn't know the name of.

"I think we have our answer."

Regina whips her head around to glimpse at the paper as well and gives the blonde a saddened smile.

"Ah," she says with a raise of eyebrows. "My, 'I want Snow White dead' phase."

"Are you sure that was just a phase?"

"Don't push it any further, Miss Swan. We know where we are now, but unfortunately, I'm not seeing any portals we can reopen to return to the present," Regina says matter-of-factly. There is a moment of dead silence as Emma stares at the ground and searches the dirt with her eyes as if a clue is hidden beneath the small pieces of wood and dust. Suddenly, Regina's face breaks into a large mischievous smile, eyes glimmering with excitement. "But I think I know of someone who can help us."

Emma leans slightly forward towards Regina, eager to hear their next plan of action. "Tell me."

Regina opens her mouth to respond but before she can speak a word of his name, she faintly hears the rumble of horse hooves on the ground. The familiar trotting, the turn of wheels, the sound of a carriage only royals would have. She is already pushing Emma to the side, behind a tree, proximity uncomfortably close to fit the both of them behind a trunk.

Emma carefully looks around the tree, seeing tons of knight-looking men in black armor, black horses with thick manes racing fast, faces covered. They look fake, as if there is no human under their protection, not a human holding their weapons. It was a terrifying sight that unnerved her to no end, and she soon began to overthink this entire situation.

"Black knights. My soldiers."

If this was the kind of fear that can be inflicted upon her after just glances of the ferocious knights, what can the Evil Queen do?

A carriage is being pulled not far after the rampaging horses who ran fast towards what seemed to be a small village surrounded by the lush greenery of the trees and shrubs. The door of the carriage is pushed open rather abruptly almost immediately after the carriage is pulled to a hasty stop.

"And me," she whispers into Emma's ear, and there is a smidge of sorrow in her voice, as if it pains her to see and to hear this scene playing out before her, almost as if she remembers it.

And maybe she does.

Emma doesn't expect to see what she sees. It is still Regina somehow. Her features are the same, shoulders broad and held high, head pointed up as if she were the top of the world, each and every lineament carefully detailed and in place.

And yet this is not her. This is not Regina Mills. The minute Emma lays eyes on her, she struggles to remain calm. Her spine is tingling from Regina's warm but uninvitingly sharp breaths hitting the back of her neck, and she realizes that she is losing her composure. She needs to move.

When they are out of sight, she grabs Regina's shoulder, forcing her to hide behind thick bushes that cover their bodies well.

"That's you," Emma says, and it's almost a question but not quite because she can't find enough air to pose a question. She feels as though the entire world is squeezing her, because this woman that walks menacingly in front of her, eyeing each and every villager with pointed glares of absolutely abhorrence, walking swiftly, without poise but also with poise, she is absolutely terrifying.

Regina nods, head ducked down.

"Listen to me very carefully," the Queen says, dragging the word 'very' with poison in her sharp, twisted voice that you cannot escape from. It pierces your mind and you can't cover your ears because the voice is low and demanding and it reeks power.

"Whatever little alibis you have concocted for my visit today, the lies and schemes you plan to pull," she says, continuing to walk, continuing to stare down each and every person in the line until their soul breaks and they too are absolutely terrified. "They are nothing, compared to the pain and misery I can inflict upon you if I leave here unhappy."

She turns her head as if she were in a hurry, as if she hears something, and Emma is almost afraid she heard them talking but dismisses the thought quickly.

"You will help me."

"Suddenly I'm thankful to see you wearing the sensible pantsuits," Emma mutters in a breathy voice.

The ones Regina is wearing now. She frowns and states, "I'll have you know I was the fairest of them all."

And if it wasn't for the aura of the air, the thickness of the Queen's voice raiding her every cell, she would've laughed at how much the fairy tale mirrored the woman next to her. Fairest of them all, that didn't happen. It never does.

An old man with a scruffy white beard appears behind the wall of villagers, garb damaged and dirtied, his hand linked with a child of wood.

August and Marco.

"Please, your majesty," he begins with a calm demeanor, and Emma admires how strong he is for speaking out. For almost defying her. "We are a peaceful village. What do you want from us?"

The Queen leans forward, black hat embroidered with red designs shading her forehead from view. She speaks the single word without malice. "Justice."

"If I am informed that any single worthless soul in this village has aided the treacherous bandit Snow White," she says, her strong and unwavering voice returning full-fledged, and she is almost spitting at the villagers with so much hatred. "They will suffer dearly." She finishes with a smirk, as if gaining her calm and focused attitude back.

"Would you like a lovely example?" she asks with a horrible smirk that speaks thousands of words. "Here is what helping Snow White looks like."

And her knights are holding a woman, no older than thirty, and she is wearing a tan burlap sack and a worn dress that screams poverty. Regina, the woman she had met in Storybrooke, the mayor, tenses with fright as if this scene is painful to watch and Emma hates that. She hates the fingers that grip the blonde's forearm. She hates the tightness, rigidness of her breath, she hates how miserable she looks. She lightly pats her back for reassurance but realizes its nothing that will help her.

The sack is pulled off of her neck, revealing wide open eyes burning with horror, the girl's entire being quivering, writhing under their grip.

"_HELP_ ME! She's going to _KILL_ me!" she is screaming, yelling, she is fighting with venom, fighting to escape from their grasps but they are strong. Stronger. Too strong.

Her voice is shrill and afraid and she is almost wailing and it hurts Emma. It hurts because this is the voice of a helpless woman, a terrified woman, a woman who cannot fight for herself.

"Who wants to be next?"

And that is when Emma is seething. No, this is definitely NOT Regina Mills. Mayor. Storybrooke founder. The woman who stands behind her. This is not a human being. This is something entirely different.

Emma stands immediately, already lunging forward to help the girl but Regina pulls her back without much force and Emma knows that Regina is surprisingly strong.

"What are you doing, Sheriff?" she whispers with eyes shell-shocked. Had she gone absolutely mad?

"Helping that woman, she's an innocent, Regina."

Regina grabbed the blonde's arm once again with strict disapproval. "No, you are most certainly not. If we tamper with past events like this, it could lead to catastrophic events for our future, the future of our son and your parents," she says simply.

"So you're just gonna let her rot and die there?" Emma replies back but has no game, no intent after realizing the consequences of saving a woman that could have untold relations to their futures.

"If her fate tells death at this age, death will come no matter where or who saves her." Regina scowls at the blonde's incompetence, just like her mother. "I am wholeheartedly requesting that you avoid your asinine suggestions while messing with the wrong timeframe, if you may please."

Emma can hear laughter, the sound of a wicked demon, of pure evil, and she realizes it is the Queen parading around the village without mercy, as if she had done the right thing.

Regina shakes her head disapprovingly. "We need to find Rumplestiltskin, he is the Dark One. Able to perform the most twisted, the most unlawful, sinful forms of magic a single being can muster," she says under her breath, just loud enough for her blonde companion to hear. "He will be able to create a time portal if we persuade him to help us."

"You mean Gold?" asks Emma with shock.

"Indeed, I do."

The carriage is leaving, the men and woman in the village shaking in their clothing, crying into shoulders, hugging and reassuring back rubs. The woman captured no longer there.

"But first, there is something else we must attend to."

/

a/n: so after realizing I forgot to bring their book I figured out a perfect idea in replacement of that so no worries in case y'all were wondering. sorry if this chap was boring, ik you guys wanna get to the swan-queeny scenes, the fun stuff, but it'll come with time :) hope you liked!


	3. True Love's Miss

"Look at that," Regina smiles at the blonde struggling to adjust the death-grip they call normal clothing here with great difficulty. "Don't you just look smashing."

"Yeah, well, this corset is smashing my goddamn lungs to pieces," she replies quickly, still twisting and turning the tight suffocating brown leather, her breasts being held on uncomfortably high stilts. Each rib of her torso is in danger of being squished to inexistence. She struggles to say her next sentence, "is this really necessary?"

"Of course it is, Miss Swan. If a single person anywhere in the Enchanted Forest caught even a glimpse of your face," she begins, retrieving a dark brown cloak from a thick white wool string that held many different clothing items to dry and wrapping it around the blonde, "they may remember you in the future, therefore changing the life we know today."

Emma lookes at her skeptically, raising one eyebrow. "You think someone is gonna remember a face they glanced at over 30 years ago?" And she lets the brunette cover her with the cloak, the mayor's soft hands dancing around her exposed skin lightly as she patted the soft dark brown material down.

"Not necessarily a face, but possibly a red leather jacket," Regina replies. She begins to grab her own pair of clothes, a simple ragged dress with a loose white chest area and a frilly brown and white layered bottom. "Unfortunately, those don't come into style here, and in my opinion, it should stay that way."

"Was that a stab at my fashion sense?"

"What fashion sense, dear?"

"Fine, fine," she sighs heavily, buttoning one button of the cloak to keep it in tact around her. It is the encouraging upturn of the mayor's full bright red lips that urge the blonde to make a comeback. "But can we please agree to change into something a little bit more, uh, oh yeah, breathable?"

"If that corset is bothering you, how in god's name do you wear those unbearably tight skinny jeans?" Regina saunters forward with faux innocence, biting the inside of her cheeks and glancing anywhere but emerald eyes in an attempt to hold in a laugh. Emma scowls at the floor with furrowed eyebrows and shakes her head. Regina continues. "I'm from this world, a world of thousands of dangers, of magic, bandits, wolves. Our best bet at the moment is to be precautions and witty, and to plan our steps carefully." She places her hands around Emma's neck to bring the brown hood over her head, covering the blonde's face from the sun. "That starts with you and I changing into something appropriate for this time period." Regina quickly grabs her own hood, a dark grey color without a button in front. The older woman hides herself from unmannered green eyes before emerging fully clothed in the new dress. She surrounds herself in the dark hood, feeling the material prod against every single patch of skin. She nods to herself as she pulls the hood completely downwards, covering her entire face. If somebody were to suddenly see the Evil Queen galavanting through a forest in peasant's clothing, the both of them would be beheaded at the Queen's castle for 'impersonation' or whatever sort of ludicrous punishment her old self would've seen fit.

Emma doesn't realize she is staring at the brunette as Regina busies herself with her own cloak, smoothed tan hands wrapping herself, not a single piece of flesh exposed. She is the epitome of abstinence, Emma laughs to herself but Regina catches it with a suspicious raise of one shapely eyebrow.

"What?" Regina narrows her eyes, and they are a chocolately brown color in the sunlight, and Emma is momentarily stunned at how completely different the mayor looks.

Or maybe she had always been this entrancing.

"Never thought I'd see you wrapped in a cloak, of all things," she chuckles and it is a rich sound she doesn't expect to emit, doesn't expect to even hear. She begins to walk down the dirt path mixed with dark sand, avoiding the other woman's now-very hypnotizing brown orbs and reorganizing her terribly jumbled thoughts. Her shoes are tight but the discomfort of unfitting shoes is more familiar than the grasp of brown leather on her spleen and so she focuses on how awful it feels to walk in these small brown heel-like things and she notices her mind is a bit less foggy.

It's Regina's turn to scowl, and she treads hastily in an attempt to be ahead of the blonde, walking with her shoulders back. "It's not exactly my style either, Miss Swan, I'm afraid you'll have to deal with it."

And then there is a silence. It is comfortable, familiar, a soft and gentle silence, and Emma finds herself admiring the way the forest beckons her attention this way and that. The swift creatures native to the forest, colorfully feathered birds taking flight to her right and small schools of harmless looking red bugs scurrying to her right, she hears all of it happening at once and it is enticing. She breathes in the scent, of a misty dew, and Emma realizes that contrary to her initial thought, it is not a worse scent but rather a different scent. It smells of thin moist air raided with pine needles, berries and other fruits exclusive to the land. She is taking it all in at once.

But Emma can't help think maybe she's just distracting herself from the view next to her. When had she ever thoroughly enjoyed the sounds of nature, especially when they visited the apartment at around 6 in the morning?

And suddenly the blonde is biting her tongue, bending her slender fingers into a fist and thinking about anything else other than Regina and home.

And Regina looks to be experiencing the exact opposite. Like she is pushing away all of the sights, the smells, her footsteps audibly scream avoid me, each movement like a scratched broken record, an erratic quickened pace.

"What is he like, Regina?" Emma asks as they continue to walk, the brunette holding her feverish pace. Emma can't see it, but she can tell this journey probably hasn't brought back the best of memories. She attempts to change the subject with conversation. "Rumplestiltskin."

"He's an imp of a man. Skin like a crocodile," she says, remembering the thoughts of when she had first met him and instantly pushing them out of her mind. She does not want to remember him, her mother, the portal.

"He's sinister and tricky. Making deals, twisting them, turning them his way and leaving the victim to perish. That is what he is like." Her voice is low, almost to a whispering tone.

Emma looks over at the mayor, well-known olive skin completely covered from head to toe, just a few inches shorter than herself. She looks younger but still remains composed with her head facing down and Emma doesn't know how she does it, how she remains to still act so... so herself, completely covered in robes and cloaks and hoods. How she always manages to keep her head held high without doing exactly that. How she learns to handle the fear by dominating it. She almost admits to herself that she is striking in a good way.

Almost.

"So, basically the same," Emma huffs out, still getting used to walking correctly in the new garb.

"One difference," she says, grabbing her hood to cover even more of her skin. "His guise from the past seems to mirror his distasteful personality more competently."

The pacing brunette doesn't notice it at first, but perking her ears behind her she can hear the faint sound of yelling men intruding the winds rustling tall evergreen trees and familiar birds' chirping. The thundering horses neighing and whinnying, the squeak of carriage wheels belonging to the royals, loud (and rather obnoxious) voices of the Prince and his horsemen. With the multitude of distractions sprinting at the duo head-first, the already-slim chances of completing their initial goal is becoming obsolete.

She pushes Emma into the thin underbrush of the forest grounds, crouching stealthily with her hood still over her face.

"What was that-"

Regina quickly places a hand over the blonde's mouth, speaking with her eyes. 'Don't say a word.' Emma's eyes are frantic and worried and Regina removes her hand with hesitance, allowing the girl to breathe.

The carriage is white, glimmering in the sunlight, pure and tranquil, quite in contrast to the pitch black carriage her old self had usually ridden in, and there are horses wheeling it forward at a slow pace, and Regina begins to question why the royals have decided to take the rather messy route, the route filled with bandits and creatures unbeknownst to the kingdom, and then she remembers the book. The brown leather, the thin slightly dusty pages, and she remembers the book and realizes

she knows this moment

When Charming steps out, a fallen tree, a glimpse of a light blue dress that positively must be Abigail and she hitches in a sharp breath

the moment Snow White and Prince Charming meet.

Emma turns towards Regina, eyes wide as both woman realize what they've just gotten themselves into. They look upwards towards a nearby tree, searching high above the ground for a familiar petite body, the green cloak that would shade Snow White's face.

Emma smiles unconsciously, as it definitely was not every day you get to witness something like this. An encounter like no other, the first glance, the first rock-to-the-face, and she finds herself unknowingly grabbing a branch to heighten her view of the woman she so urgently wanted t

'Crack!'

Emma whips her head around at the hollow twig she holds firmly in her grasp and a sharp inhale of breath brings even more already unwanted attention from the black-haired bandit. And Emma sees her face.

And the woman is panicking. Her features are contorted into what seems like absolute horror. The green cloak's grip loosens considerably after the sudden shock of possible discovery and she falls to the ground with a muffled thump, soft Earth aiding her fall enough to keep her conscious.

"Emma!" Regina fumes under her breath, glaring at the blonde who can only stare at her with terror... fear... horror deep in her eyes.

"See the axe marks?" the women hear Charming state, grabbing his sword. "Somebody has planned this. It's an ambush."

His men are grabbing their arrows and weapons but little do they know that they won't even be needing them,

all because of her

They are riding away, and Snow White is already scurrying as stealthily and quickly as a mouse under a cat's glare and the two women realize that the two witnesses of absolute True Love have now never even met each other.

Emma stands worriedly, ready to receive all hell from the brunette who stares at her incredulously, practically seething. She looks absolutely livid, Emma concludes, and she knows it is the huge frown and the harshness of her eyes and the ferocious downturned eyebrows.

"Foolish! Absolutely ridiculously foolish!"

"Oh god," said blonde-haired mess is pacing back and forth, grabbing at her hood in frustration and guilt and for whatever reason she can't define, complete stupidity.

"Not 30 minutes into the past and you have already potentially hindered your parent's true love confrontation," she says, waving her hands around like she usually does when she is ranting or upset or brimming with irate venom.

"This is exactly why I didn't want to bring you, Miss Swan," she continues rudely, stepping forward just a bit into the woman's personal space. "This is not like Storybrooke in the slightest. If you are seen looking this suspicious, we are dead. If you make even the slightest mistake, it's all over."

"I'm sorry the tree branch fucking broke but it's not entirely my fault," she spits back, surprisingly calm, and it scares both women how nonchalant they are keeping their voices, but their eyes give away the hatred, the burning fire.

"If you hadn't been so starstruck around your own mother and father, maybe you would have thought it'd be hazardous to move even an inch, let alone attempt to stand yourself up."

Emma places her head in her hands and lazily lets her hand fall to her chin. "They were my parents," she says in defense but it's weak.

"Let's just go," and her response is cold and icy like all she wants to do is wrap her hands around the blonde's throat and kill her. But she doesn't and Emma knows she obviously won't. Emma realizes, she realizes that she never wants to hear this voice directed towards her. It grips her heart like a freezing cold hand and squeezes it, it kills her to hear this woman so infuriated. "We will deal with your incompetence at another time."

"Can't you just zap us there?" Emma asks tiredly. "You know, purple haze of magic. I would if I could, but I was kinda hoping I would get my magic back here or something. Not feeling it."

"Why would you even think that?" she shakes her head, walking fast without a moment to spare.

"I don't know, maybe going in the past would reverse things," she says stupidly.

Regina sighs. "Of course." She rolls her eyes. "In response to your question," and Emma waits patiently for a good amount of time.

"Being in Storybrooke for so long, denying it, it feels somewhat diminished." She's almost struggling to say it, like she doesn't want to admit the fact that she feels weak. She feels like her teenage self who just had her first magic lesson. And Emma already knows this voice, it's the voice she uses when she knows Henry is in danger, when she is terrified, afraid, Emma recognizes the tone because it is the only voice her old self had ever used.

Emma regards her cautiously and she is thinking, pondering, wondering why an absence of magic could scare someone. Regina is strong, powerful, she does not need magic, Emma thinks this through and agrees with herself. "Is teleportation really so difficult? You've done it a few different times."

"That was Storybrooke. Here, well," and she raises her hands, and she is gathering her magic into her hands with all the might she can possibly muster before she breathes out a large sigh and a small flame trickles weakly in her hand. It is discolored, not the bright orange flame with prickling red borders that engulfed her hand in a fiery haze, it was blackened and dark red, the very core of a small flame, like sickly burning coal embers. "Yes, that's about it."

"So then I'm definitely not getting my magic back."

"Definitely not."

They continue to walk for what seems like countless hours, each step on crunching sand sapping what little strength they had retained, until finally they reach a stopping point. A brilliant grey stone-walled castle, huge, making a lasting impression compared to the greenery ensconcing it ominously. It is surrounded by a strange waft of... darkness. Emma already knows what it is.

A\N hehehe plotholes plotholes i don't really have betas for my work so idk if something is wrong but I just realized emma says she has magic at the beginning, my bad.

thank you for your lovely reviews, the reviews really help me know what I'm doing wrong. If you have any questions or suggestions, I'm begging you to tell me, as I love and appreciate your support. thanks!

sorry for all of the kind of made-up stuff, but just imagine that time travel really takes a toll on someone, and denying magic for a while (or at least not using it as much as Regina had in EF) will gradually lessen its potential. magic isn't like riding a bike in my story ha

btw im going for romantic sq but i am still noooot quite sure, i wanna see where this story goes first


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